


Choices

by Mag7FandF_FanGirl (RannaFic)



Series: Adjustments and Accomodations [7]
Category: Fast & Furious 6 (2013), The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-03
Updated: 2013-09-05
Packaged: 2017-12-21 22:38:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 16,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/905773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RannaFic/pseuds/Mag7FandF_FanGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dom needs to finally decide just what Ezra is to him. As if Ezra's life is not complicated enough someone makes it look like he's been hacking the police database during a case which was initiated by Vin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Old Friend

Ezra usually enjoyed his time at the street races with Dom though not because of the races themselves. It was oddly freeing to have no expectations placed on him except to look attractive. Even that requirement was more self imposed than anything else. He had come up with a game of trying out the effect of small changes, clothes, hats, hair color and style, body posture and seeing what changed his appearance enough to make him difficult to recognize. It had become a game with Dom's good friends to see who would recognize him first. Of course it also meant he had to disguise his escort but since he had 7 to choose from including Brian that helped rather than hindered the game. Dom's friends were sharp enough that they quickly caught on to the fact that there was more to Ezra than the fluffy toy persona he adopted at the track for amusement. However they did not expect anything from him regardless, so it worked out. 

Today however, nothing was going right for Ezra. Only Nathan had been available to escort him and Nathan disapproved of the whole concept of illegal street racing and was not afraid to say so either. Then Nathan had been called home for a plumbing emergency by Rain and had convinced Roman to step in. Roman was generally decent company but on racing days was impossible to talk to since he was more into watching the races than Dom. Ezra found that somewhat frustrating since, in all honesty, he was bored by the races. Outside of Dom and Brian he generally did not care who won and in Denver the only time there was any competition for Dom was when Brian raced. Otherwise Dom simply crushed the competition. It was difficult for Ezra to get excited watching Dom win handily yet again. However Roman was so enthusiastic Ezra always found himself forced to pay attention. Furthermore today Ezra was still bruised from their last bust going a bit haywire, so he could not indulge himself in his other favorite racing pastime of displaying as much skin as possible and watching the racers do their best not to gape. If that wasn't enough he and Dom had already had a minor argument about Ezra even being at the races since Dom always wanted Ezra to take it easy when he was hurt, which Ezra pretty much never did. 

Ezra was considering making the effort to try and convince Roman to take him home when suddenly Roman stiffened and there was an unexplained tension in the air. Ezra looked over at what had caught Roman's attention and saw him watching a driver who had just emerged from one of the cars. Ezra was surprised to see a women, they were rare as drivers. Roman cursed and Ezra could hear surprise and anger in his voice. "Letty!" Ezra remembered from his original files that she had been Dom's girlfriend back when Dom and Brian had first met. It was clear she was an unpleasant surprise to Roman. "I thought she was dead. The reports all said she was killed working for the FBI on a case." He had a sudden sinking feeling when Roman looked at him in shock and blurted "Dom never mentioned what happened with her?"

Roman was furious with Dom and Brian both. He had gotten to know Ezra well enough from all the times he was at races with Dom and liked him. It was pretty clear that while Ezra's surface persona was pleasant enough, he did not readily allow people close and generally all that could be observed was a neutral smile, regardless of how he was feeling. Roman was flattered to be one of Ezra's small circle of friends but he wished he had found out in some other fashion rather than by being treated to the open expression of distress on Ezra's face when he explained about Letty. That had been hard to take, especially when Ezra realized his discomfort was depressing Roman and had visibly pulled himself together. He wished that he could just tell Ezra he was overreacting, but he remembered what Dom had been like when Letty had left to find herself again. She was the reason they had all left LA behind. Dom had not been able to stand being in a place that should be home without her, knowing that she did not want him. The fact that Dom had not mentioned anything about what had happened with her was not a good sign. Brian at least should have mentioned it once it became clear this was a serious relationship. He guessed Brian had assumed Letty would never come back. Her leaving had damaged something in Dom. Now her coming back looked like it would break him again, because he didn't think she was back for any reason except to get Dom. At this point though Dom came with a relationship he could not walk away from and Roman did not think anything could get Ezra to let Dom go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where I deviate from F&F 7. I never liked the idea that Dom was married because he was not with Letty in Fast and Furious 4 and that was hard to believe for his character. So in this Universe they were never married and simply broke up after 6 due to her dealing with her amnesia.


	2. Introductions

Dom screeched to a stop and got out of his car. It was a forgone conclusion that he would win with Brian not present, but it still felt good anyway. He turned to look for Ezra and froze. Letty was there, at the finish line, smiling at him just the way she used to. He shook his head a little to clear his vision, but it was no mirage, she was really there. He stepped towards her, pulled by the force of history and desire and she was in his arms. Something he had thought he could never have again. They kissed and it was as good as before but something was nagging at him. Finally they parted and suddenly it hit him, Ezra always greeted him at the finish line. He turned to look, his eyes caught Ezra's and he found to his bemusement that nothing had changed between them. He still desired Ezra with as much force as ever. Always before his connection to Letty had been stronger than anything else. When she was around it was as if everyone else paled in comparison. Now, for the first time, that was no longer true. He looked at the pain in Ezra's face, knew he had put it there and felt ashamed that this was something that had blindsided Ezra. He would have to correct that immediately. He stepped forward towards Ezra, his arm still around Letty. "Letty there is someone I need you to meet. This is Ray. He's my toy."

Ezra was good at reading people in general and Dom was usually an open book to him but the feelings he was currently reading had him mystified. Dom loved Letty, there was no mistaking that, but everything he could get from him said whatever was between them was there as strong as ever. It made him flinch inwardly a little to be introduced to someone so important to Dom as a toy but the 'my' made him simultaneously preen. He still belonged. The most puzzling thing was being introduced as Ray. Sure most of Dom's friends and even Brian and Mia called him that, but given who Letty was to Dom he would have expected to be introduced as Sunny or Ezra. Now, he was not sure where she stood. 

Letty felt as though her life was finally on track again. She had thought that she needed to know who she had been before she could have a real relationship with Dom. All her efforts into looking for her past had allowed some of the memories to resurface but some were apparently gone forever. She only had snatches of memory of her time with Dom but she remembered being happy and she wanted that again. She had not expected Dom to be celibate, since she had made no promises to come back, but she had not expected a man. In a way though it made her feel good. She could think of her leaving as having spoiled him for any other woman. Certainly that had not been true the last time they parted, though that had been more drifting apart due to circumstances than what must have been seen by Dom as rejection. Now he was showing her around. Introducing her to the other racers while his toy paced silently beside him. He did not even seem to be aware of the man. She started to wonder if this was just a way for Dom to scratch an itch. That would be perfect, they could just sell off the toy's contract and continue as if they had never left off. Just as she was about to voice a question to that effect a drunk spectator stumbled and started falling into Ezra. Dom's arm shot out immediately, preventing him from coming into contact with Ezra. Letty realized she would have to revise her opinion. Clearly Dom was paying more attention than she had thought. 

Finally they circled back to where Ezra had been waiting with Roman. Letty felt uncomfortable. Roman was blatantly hostile. She had not thought he was such friends with Dom that he would be angry on Dom's behalf, but clearly he had issues with her. Dom asked "Hey I want to take Letty out and show her around a bit. Could you escort Sunny a little while longer?" Roman scowled "I could drop him home but I can't stay. I have a prior commitment." Letty could not help interjecting at that point. "Oh come on Dom he's an adult. Surely he won't mind being at home alone for a few hours." To her surprise Ezra spoke up at that. "Thank you dear lady. I have been attempting to convince Dominic of just that fact for many years now." Dom scowled at him "We are not revisiting this Sunny. Number one you are my responsibility and number two what's your track record for being unescorted? A kidnapping, a stab wound, a dislocated shoulder. That's not happening." Dom glared at Roman "So what am I supposed to do." Roman glared back, then he sighed "Look if you're really stuck I'll take him to the ranch, but why don't you just take him with you." Dom looked away, guilt written on his face "I'm sure he'll be bored. I'm visiting places he's seen a million times." Roman's face darkened in anger "You know what I'm not doing this. Call Brian, or Mia. I'm out of here" Letty thought this would be a good opportunity to find out just how this toy interacted with Dom. "It's OK Dom bring him with us. I don't mind." Dom looked surprised and pleased "Really?" Letty smiled it was never a bad thing to have more information "Yes, really."


	3. False Assumptions

Letty was enjoying having Dom focus on her. She knew that when she was used to it again she would find it too intense, the way she had before she left. However after so long without it the annoying had become enjoyable. The Colorado scenery was beautiful but she found the city a little cramped and small after LA. She was also surreptitiously trying to figure out Dom's little toy. From the few comments he had made regarding Dom's "unnecessary adherence to obligations" and the "resplendent vistas" Dom was showing off, she could figure out that he was smart, but Dom's reaction seemed to indicate that he needed Dom's protection. That pointed to someone Dom had met in prison to her. She could not imagine how else Dom would have come across someone like him and feel protective. She could recognize his physical appeal but she knew he would need to have more than simply that to have maintained Dom's interest. She did not remember enough of her previous relationship with Dom to say whether or not Dom had mentioned him after he came back from Lompoc. 

Finally when Dom had finished showing her the beauty of the mountains and the good driving spots and they had stopped to take a walk through "one of the most peaceful parks in the city" Letty stopped him. "Look Dom I was wondering whether we could pick up where we left off. I realize now how special you are and well, couldn't we try to go back to the way things used to be?" Dom paused and glanced at Ezra who was stopped a few feet away just out of earshot. "Letty..." "Come on Dom I don't hold it against you that you had some fun. I'm sure your toy can find someone else from Lompoc to protect him." Dom looked at her in astonishment and then started laughing. Ezra turned towards them and approached looking curious. Dom finally managed to gasp out "Letty thinks you're an ex-con too." Ezra started laughing. Finally when he stopped his eyes were twinkling and for the first time he met her eyes and addressed her directly "No Ms Ortiz. I am, as it happens, a federal agent. Though given my current propensity for hanging around with disreputable sorts such as Dominic I can see how you would make such an error." Dominic cuffed him gently at that statement. Then Dom explained "We met when his boss insisted he check out whether I was involved in a gun dealing scheme. Fortunately for us he would not listen to Sunny's insistence that I would not be involved" Dom's smile as he looked at Ezra after that was so affectionate Letty felt she had to react now before she lost the excuse of being unfamiliar with the situation.

She was now not sure now that her idea that Dom was simply passing time or simply dealing with his needs was correct. "So then he doesn't need protection from you at all." Suddenly she realized something "His being a toy is just an excuse to allow you to have a relationship with him." To her surprise Dom immediately objected "No! I mean it is not as if we are lovers, well though of course obviously we... It's not an equal relationship or anything. You know me Letty, you know I am not gay. A toy does not make you gay everyone knows that." Letty saw an opening here. "Well before, when you did not have a girlfriend that was clear Dom. However now, well people will begin to wonder if you actually do like men if you keep him around." To her surprise Dom looked stubborn "Everyone understands accepting your responsibilities. Besides it is not as though I could terminate the contract in any case." Ezra spoke up then "You could always appoint Chris my guardian. Then he could manage your responsibilities for you." Ezra's voice was calm and cool and his face was almost expressionless but Dom's wince made it clear that this was anything but a reasoned response. "No Sunny, never again." Letty decided to quit now with the idea planted in Dom's head. "We do not need to decide now. Maybe it will work out that you have us both Dom." She had no real intention of sharing but if she said as much Dom would never trust her around Ezra and to make this work she needed to know him better. "Really? I could go for that" Dom's smile was broad. Ezra's eyes were cool but she could tell his response was sincere "I am certainly more than willing to attempt an accommodation."


	4. Relationship Adjustments

Dom was pleased. Things seemed to be going well. Ezra was clearly being accommodating and Letty was being considerate of his need for them both. Sometimes he caught wary glances from Ezra though, making him realize that all their interactions were under his eyes. He knew even though this was Letty, he was not prepared to leave Ezra's safety to her without carefully evaluating their interaction. However in the last few weeks everything had gone extremely well. He knew that there had been no real tests of the relationship since he was aware that Ezra had essentially been on his best behavior. Ezra had not disagreed with Letty once. That was somewhat worrisome since it was hardly a realistic picture of Ezra but he knew it was relaxing Letty who without some time to get used to Ezra would have been likely to have reacted badly to Ezra's wry sense of humor. For the last few days Letty had been asking why he never let her escort Ezra. It was becoming a bit of a sore point between them. He had allowed her to have limited responsibility while Brian or Mia were there and everything had been fine and now he was fairly sure that everything would be OK. The one sticking point was that Letty wanted real authority over Ezra, and he was not yet ready to allow that. He knew Letty would never hurt Ezra but, she could be sharp tongued and Ezra was sensitive. Ezra's response when hurt was sometimes to lash back and Dom was not prepared to deal with Letty wanting to punish Ezra, particularly not if it was for something he had said. However he had decided that he had to allow them some time alone together and see how that turned out.

Ezra was willing to try sharing, especially after some very honest conversations with Brian and Mia had convinced him that there was not really any other feasible option. Mia had been the most blunt about it. She said Dom had been considering marrying Letty but once she went on the run he had felt that he had nothing to offer as a husband. Then Dom had thought she was dead. Once he got her back they had tried again but she had been wary and she had finally ended it when she wanted to find out who she really was. Ezra was a little stymied by the fact that he could not say that he had a good read on Letty. She seemed very proficient at hiding her emotions. However he could imagine it had been necessary given everything she had experienced, so he could sympathize. Given his lack of choice he was prepared to allow her the benefit of the doubt and assume that what she said was the truth. At least right now she was saying all the right things. Interacting with her was always interesting and he found that he actually liked her. She had a strong streak of generosity and an innate bravery and strength that he respected. She was always up for a challenge and had a raunchy sense of humor that he found fun. What was most amusing was teasing Dom along with her. Most people always had a certain wariness around Dom but neither of them felt that trepidation so it was fun to tweak Dom occasionally. He could never take it to far because he knew Dom could make him pay for it if he chose but Letty had no such restrictions and it was intensely amusing to subtly egg her on. After feeling each other out he realized they could get along together without much friction and started to relax a little more around her. She seemed to respond in kind and he had begun to feel as though things actually could work out. Finally after Dom added Letty to his official escort list they got a chance to interact without Dom being there but still things seemed relaxed and easy between them and Ezra felt extremely hopeful. Things might be just fine after all.

Letty smiled despite her feelings. It really was a pity that Ezra was in the way of what she wanted. She could have easily liked him otherwise


	5. Discussions

Letty had finally managed to get Ezra alone for a long enough period that she thought they would be able to have an uninterrupted conversion. She really wanted to know the answer to one particular question "Why are you so accepting of sharing Dom? You seem to be a talented and intelligent man. Why put up with less than his full attention? Why not fight for more?" Ezra looked pensive "I have an advantage which you do not. I know from experience that in a choice between me and family I will loose. It is clear for me that I have to share or I will get nothing. In any case I have never had what you have. A relationship of equals, lovers. Perhaps he was always saving it for you in the hope that you would come back." Letty looked at him in astonishment "Don't you want that?" Ezra's smile was wry "Do I want only to be a plaything, something subordinate to Dom? Sometimes it is actually fine you know. To be an agent I have to be careful I have to think constantly. I hold my life, the lives of my team in my actions, my words. To be able to let that all go and give someone else control feels good sometimes. You can't understand what it means for me to be able to trust so completely. I thought it was trained out of me long ago by my mother and then reinforced by the FBI. My team worked so hard to get me to learn to trust and then Dom came along. I researched him before I took that first case. It was obvious that he did not even know how to betray his family, his friends. Then when I met him and I wanted him and he desired me. I took a chance and now... Now I belong to him." Letty scowled "You are what? An obligation?" Ezra's response was calm "Among other things yes. He can have someone else take temporary responsibility but he has to ensure my care, my safety, physical, emotional. Since he has the power he cannot dispose of me carelessly. In theory he could sell my contract but with my contract that requires my approval. That he would never obtain. I would trust no one else with that kind of complete surrender." Letty's voice was gentle "Dom is in love with me." Ezra's voice was sad "You are indeed correct. I would not have the confidence to make such a definitive statement, however I know that in some ways at least he loves me too. Certainly he desires me. I do not believe he has been willing to think of our relationship in romantic terms. To think to himself that I am his lover. Perhaps that is some inherent failing on my part or perhaps it is only because he could never take that step and think of himself in love with a man. I have never been sure and now learning about you I believe that he was saving that part of his heart, that kind of love in trust for you, locked away. Regardless I've been with him for several years now and I have to feel that I do have some value to him"

Letty scowled and changed tactics this was getting her nowhere. "I've known him since we were teenagers together." Ezra was quiet "I know how important you are to him and how vulnerable I am to you precisely because of that long history. You can make my life difficult already, and it will not be long before Dominic decides to allow you to have direct control of me." Abruptly his expression became pleading "We get along well and I am no threat to what you can give to Dominic. I am not completely fulfilled by what I have from Dominic but I have learned to be satisfied with it. What I offer him you cannot. If he had never met me he may not even have become aware of the fact that he wanted surrender, submission. Initially he got that power just from the fact that I am a man and the more he learnt about just who is handing over control to him the more he wanted it. Everything I learnt about you, everything I have seen from you says you cannot give that to him. That to you would be anathema, a diminishing of yourself, becoming just a weak girl. We give Dominic different things. I cannot give him the children he would love." Letty paused, caught at the image of children with Dom, and then the image of Ezra intruded. She was not blind she could see what appeal he held for Dom and suddenly she was afraid that maybe it was not a forgone conclusion that she would win. She thought suddenly of Dom coming to her after being with Ezra and recoiled. However her time with Owen Shaw had taught her well and she was an expert in covering her feelings and biding her time. She forced a perfect facsimile of a sincere smile. "You do make good points for sharing. Certainly you are right that I cannot give him the surrender you offer. I guess it is true that he does need us both." Then she attempted to cover up any lingering uncertainties about her intentions with some well timed honesty "I do like you Ezra, and you are good for him. He is lucky to have you in his life."


	6. Heartbreak

Before Dom Ezra had often looked forward to Monday mornings. Some weekends the team got together but when they did not he had found weekends lonely. Now his feelings were often mixed but this Monday he really wanted to talk to his team. He was not certain the discussion with Letty had resolved anything. He wanted to get Josiah's advice and to talk to Vin and work through Letty's reactions. Vin was surprisingly insightful sometimes and Letty was very difficult to read. Buck had picked him up this morning and Ezra could not get a word in edgewise in his discussion of his latest conquest. They arrived at the office to find it buzzing with activity, unusual for a Monday morning. Chris brightened as they walked in "Ezra wonderful. We need some creative undercover work for this one. Vin's brought in a case." Ezra was puzzled. Vin was not the one he would have pegged for that. "What's up?" Vin's voice was quiet but Ezra knew him well enough to hear the depths of sorrow in his voice. "One of the kids from my building is in the hospital in critical condition, and I put him there."

Vin's story was heart wrenching. One of the kids in his building, a 4 year old named Stephane, had been shot on Saturday and was currently in the ICU. To make things worse it was by a weapon his older brother Gerard had brought into the house. Vin had convinced Gerard to testify against the guys who sold it to him . Gerard and his mother had been on their way to the police this morning when they were shot. From the mother's story Gerard had taken the unwise course of calling up the person who had sold him the gun and letting him know he was going to turn him in. Now both boys were in the hospital clinging to life. Vin had talked to the police and managed to get the boys and their mother under 24 hour guard. However all they had for evidence was a name and a dead end burner phone.

Ezra paused. "So we need to identify the instigators of this heinous tragedy and shut them down. Fortunately it is something we can accomplish with little effort." Vin shot him a grateful look. The others on the team had spent hours trying to convince him it was not his fault. Ezra simply got right to work. After much discussion Ezra had a simple plan to find the seller. JD could easily be made to look young enough to be a teenager. They would have him move to the neighborhood with Josiah as his grandfather. Vin could convince some of the boys from the neighbourhood to fake a attack and then JD would have a reasonable need for protection. Then, well they could go from there. Vin promised darkly that if they could find the seller he would be able to make him talk and lead them up through the distribution network to the ultimate supplier.

Ezra's predictions turned out to be correct. Within a week of the start of their operation they had the identity of the teen selling the guns and Vin was indeed able to get him to provide the name of the distributor. Vin had long had suspicions about one of the gun stores just on the border of Purgatorio and finally they had him connected to the illegal gun sales. Now they wanted an ironclad case against him to choke off the supply and serve as a warning for anyone else who might attempt to try something similar. They decided that for this operation Ezra would pose as a wealthy southerner in town for a couple months, one who just happened to have a whole box of guns from his collector father whose estate he was closing down. Ezra smiled evilly "I happen to know we have a mixed box of Kimber Solo's and M &P Shields along with a Kel-Tec and PF-9s from a bust Team 8 made a few weeks ago. There will be no way someone selling black market, cheap carry guns would be able to resist. Furthermore I have recently been experimenting with micro printing inside the gun and it works like a charm. We will be able to trace the marked guns back to the seller" and then of course all the players would, as Ezra put it, "be ready for a long bout of incarceration"


	7. An Idea

Letty was disturbed. She knew Dom didn't enforce anything like protocol with Ezra but regardless it discomfited her that his friends felt perfectly free to come up to Ezra and engage him in conversation while Dom was racing. She knew Ezra had been intensely engaged at work lately and needed the break he had finally agreed to take but she still could not help feeling it was inappropriate for him as Dom's toy. There was even a new young racer who couldn't be more than 19, 20 tops who seemed to be mostly Ezra's friend who felt free to come and chat with Ezra and Dom simply allowed it. Today that racer, Carlos looked worried and she saw Ezra pull him aside so they were partially shielded from the crowd and out of earshot. She moved a little closer, Ezra's friend Buck was supposed to be escorting him today but he was thoroughly distracted by the young women who hung around the cars. 

"I don't know what to do! I'll loose my scholarship and I can't possibly afford to stay in college without it. I was so stupid and now, I've ruined everything, my life is over!" Ezra's voice was stern "Why on earth did you do something so stupid?" Letty's ears pricked up at Carlos' answer "God Ray he was the most beautiful guy I've ever seen. I didn't want to look weak or stuffy in front of him." Ezra was not sympathetic "So instead you get yourself thrown out of college and never see him again." Carlos seemed frantic "I know your brother in law is a FBI guy. Can't he fix it or something? I didn't hurt anyone the cop stopped me before I had even driven 10 feet." Ezra sounded amused at that "He's hardly my brother in law. However ..." Letty was not sure what he would have said next because it was drowned out by the squeal of brakes. She didn't even have time to turn before Ezra tackled her hard. She hit the ground and turned her head to see a car barrel through the position in which she had been standing and hit the wall. Ezra pushed off her "You ok?" Letty nodded an affirmative but truthfully she was in shock. There was another screech of brakes and Dom's car came to a halt a few feet away. Letty moved on shaky legs towards him feeling grateful but to her surprise he ignored her entirely and rushed to Ezra, checking him over carefully. Then he turned and began to berate her for not taking better care of Ezra. Letty could not believe it but before she could even open her mouth Ezra was responding and she had never seen him so angry. "Do not treat Letty as though she has any obligation to defend my person when she was not responsible for me! Furthermore since you apparently were unable to correctly process what actually happened she was the only one in danger of being hurt not I." He clearly wanted to say more but was mindful of the fact that they were at the track and did not want to shame Dom.

Letty knew she should feel grateful but all she felt was angry. She just wanted to hurt Ezra for co-opting Dom's affections so thoroughly. Him defending her to Dom somehow made things worse. The idea that Dom would accept being berated by someone besides her and his toy to boot was infuriating. Suddenly it came to her in a flash how she could use this thing with Carlos. When she had been working for Shaw one of his men, Jah, had introduced her to Arthur, a hacker who did occasional work for Shaw. Now she was going to look him up again. He would help her in the first step of her plan, damaging Ezra's reputation and not incidentally separating Ezra from his friends. It had become clear that they were a source of massive support for him. If she could get them to push him away then it would be much easier to get him off balance enough that she was sure she could pry Dom away.


	8. Making Progress

Ezra was nervous, a new feeling for him on a case. Vin had been more involved than normal in all aspects of planning and setup for this case and he had confided to Ezra that if they could not get this guy he was thinking of leaving the team. Ezra had been afraid to try and talk him out of it until they made more progress on the case but it raised the pressure enormously, to the point where, as he was now finding, he was jumpy and scared about blowing the case, something he had not felt since he was a rookie agent. Now here, face to face with the man who was supplying these kids with their guns he found his palms sweaty and needed to suppress minor twitches. Then everything got worse as the dealer looked sharply at him and demanded "Want to explain to me exactly why you are nervous?"

Ezra froze, the worst possible response, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't blow this case, not with so much riding on it. In a flash he discarded their entire plan along with his persona of a wealthy, suave gun connoisseur and made up a new role on the fly. He let his body sag and shed his jacket, something he was well aware made him look immediately younger and less sophisticated. "I'm sorry I ..." he allowed his nervousness to enter his voice "I just can't do it, that, that's what my Dad always wanted me to be, like him but I just can't. I'm afraid of guns and I hated it when he took me hunting. He never thought I was good enough. He just did this because he knew it would freak me out. He always thought I was a little wimp! I don't know why I thought..". "Woah, woah" the dealer, Steve Mainer interrupted "I don't need your life story kid. Ok fair enough so you really want me to take these guns off your hands. Do you have any information about them?" Ezra looked at him with apparent gratitude. "I don't know what they are called, they're small, at least I think so but they take standard bullets, there are standard ones right? Look why don't I bring one in, well I think there are 2 or 3 types, maybe one of each kind and you can tell me how much you'll give me for the box." Mainer interrupted "Box?" "There must be 20 or maybe 30 guns in there and I sure don't want them." Mainer's eyes lit up. "Certainly I would be glad to take them off your hands." Ezra's voice was filled with sincere gratitude. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. "How late are you open? Or wait I do have other stuff from my dad to dispose of. I could come tomorrow, or maybe the day after whatever works best, would that be alright?" 

After arranging a tentative appointment to bring in the gun samples tomorrow Ezra got in his rental and drove off, ending up just around the corner where his team had set up their surveillance. As he slid into the van he noted the stunned silence. "Gentlemen have you never witnessed a simple change of plan before?" His team burst into laughter and Buck clapped him on the back "Good save partner. Honestly you're the best there is at this kind of stuff." The trip back to the office was filled with a spirited discussion on whether they should drag this out or try and close this part of the bust as soon as possible. Chris finally put an end to it. Declaring that he wanted the full crate of guns delivered the day after tomorrow and he was the boss. This created a round of amusement in the team but in the end that was the decision. 

As soon as the reports were finished Chris announced "Good job guys. Josiah I'll switch with you as escort today, so you can take off. Alright all of you guys go home, get some rest tomorrow we need to make sure those samples are in obviously used condition and you know that will mean a long morning of shooting." Ezra was unsurprised when after the rest of the team left Chris drew him into his office. "What happened Ezra?" Ezra sighed, Vin had not given him permission to share his statements with the rest of the team and Ezra hated lying to them. Not to mention at this point being pretty bad at it when it came to Chris in particular. He tried a gentle dissemble "The microprinting is much less likely to be discovered if he sees me as a naive youngster who lacks knowledge. Since the strength of the conviction depends on using that to trace the guns to our illegitimate buyers the best plan is to increase the probability that the microprinting remains undiscovered." Chris did not look impressed. "Well Ezra it's great that you managed to figure that out and implement it in the 5 or 10 seconds after your cover was blown but to say it's not like you is a severe understatement. You're great at covering yourself but the extent to which you prefer a plan to spur of the moment is almost ridiculous, so try again. If that perp saw you as nervous it means you were so scared it showed through. So why?"

Ezra paused "I... Mr Larabee I'm afraid that I cannot disclose the factors which might have influenced my emotional state." Chris stared at him and Ezra squirmed then sighed "That is all I have to say on the matter. Now if you would excuse me I need to take care of some a few last minute issues." Chris sighed and let it go. He would give it a couple of days for the case to wrap up and then push harder to find out what was going on. This case was turning into a real nightmare with Vin confiding that he was so invested in it he was thinking of quitting unless there was a successful outcome and now Ezra being so nervous he blew a role he could normally play in his sleep.


	9. Framed

"So how long do you need to hack in and delete the information?" Letty got down to the most important question. Arthur shrugged "From a Fed's machine, 15 minutes tops, 10 if I'm lucky. If you can plug in a jump drive definately 10. Are you sure this Brian guy will leave the machine with you? Feds are usually careful." Letty smiled "No problem, Brian trusts me." She didn't intend to let Arthur know that it wasn't Brian's machine at all. Not least because telling anyone about Ezra's real job was something she knew Dom would not forgive ever. She thought she had covered her tracks well but just in case it was better to be safe. She smiled as she saw him typing in Carlos' name. She was going to be on the phone with her cousin's friend trying to "help Carlos" the second that Arthur started the process. Certainly seeing the database entry disappearing under his nose would be something no police officer would overlook. She'd asked around and every officer in Denver knew the best law enforcement hacker in the area was JD Dunne. It was certain that at some point he would be called to help and then Ezra would be in the hot seat.

Letty was pleased. Everything had come together perfectly. Dom had as usual done his traditional pasta dinner before the start of the 'official' competition and she had made sure that everything seemed perfect, laughing with Ezra at Dom's obsession with the perfect sauce, sitting with Dom in the middle as they watched footage of his Dad's old races and then kissing both Dom and Ezra good night before going to bed. The only sour note had been when she had joked that it was a pity that Dom was celibate the night before the start of the season. The look between Dom and Ezra made it clear that even though that had been true with her, it was not with them. She was not sure if the difference was because of what Ezra gave Dom that she could not, and did not want to think about it. However now everything was perfect. She had allowed Dom to sleep in and then hustled him off letting him know she would take Ezra. Now, well she would make sure Ezra was angry and upset and the last thing he would be thinking about was his laptop sitting unattended in Dom's room. 

"Get up!" Ezra stretched and looked at Letty standing over him. "what.." "Get up! We need to meet Dom at the races and there's no way I'm leaving the kitchen in that horrible state. I want it thoroughly cleaned before we go." Ezra was confused "Doesn't the cleaning service come in today?" Letty was dismissive "No. Dom cancelled them. Now Ray!" Ezra felt anger surge "What's this about? Just an attempt to prove you can command me?" Letty shrugged "If you like, go do it now and I want the counters shining." Ezra fought down his normal response. Dom had asked his permission before giving Letty the go ahead to be able to give him orders. He had agreed, but he had not expected anything this, petty. Just annoying enough to make him furious, but something that would make him sound whiny if he complained to Dom. "Fine!" He rolled from bed and reached for his clothes and Letty's voice stopped him. "You can go just like that, go now!" Ezra figured he knew now why she was doing this. He sighed but went down to the kitchen. Letty was in for a surprise, he was actually a fast and efficient cleaner. Even with the mess Dom had made he would be done in 20 minutes tops.

Letty manged to keep the smug smile off her face until Ezra left. He had been too furious to notice he had left the laptop in Dom's room. She booted it up and inserted the jump drive Arthur had given her. Then she called him. "You have a go." She hung up and called her police contact, keeping him on the phone until she heard the "What the hell?" She accepted his apologies and his promise that he would see what he could do. Now let Ezra try and explain that. She would make sure to apologize profusely to Ezra after she "got over her fit of pique". Even that little interlude with Dom had played into her hand, since Ezra had a plausible explanation for her anger. Now she just had to talk to Mia to implement the second phase of her plan. 


	10. Discoveries

Chris put down the phone. He could not imagine who had both hacked into the police database to change information on some kid's drunk driving arrest and was good enough not only to do it but also leave no trace for the police IT experts. It seemed beyond believable that someone that good would use such an ability only to erase a DUI record. However the police knew about JD and with the case being at least alcohol related Chris had cover for getting involved. He called JD into his office and watched him light up over the opportunity. JD loved a challenge. 

JD checked again for what had to be the fourth or maybe fifth time. There was no mistake. The IP address remained the same, a very familiar one. He sighed, well before he took this to Chris he wanted to at least find out something about the kid involved. He did a little online research and his heart sank. He recognized the picture immediately it was Carlos. He was one of the guys who hung around the racers, idolizing Dom and moreover one who had made friends with Ezra. Most of the racers were wary of getting too close to Ezra in case Dom took offense. Dom's long term friends were the exception but most of them were big enough on the racing scene that they didn't have the time to just hang out with Ezra. Carlos or Jose Carlos Mendoza as the database had previously recorded, was not good enough to spend all his time racing but he had struck up a friendship with Roman and then Ezra and was so visibly intimidated by Dom that Dom had laughed when he gave his permission for him to hang out with Ezra "with a proper chaperone of course, Mr Torretto". JD could easily see Ezra wanting to help him if he was in trouble, though he would never have expected something to this extent. This was at least potentially career ending though with Chris backing Ezra up JD doubted it would come to that. Besides if they mentioned to the police that it was Ezra who had done the hacking they would refuse to touch anything about it with a ten foot pole. Maybe that was what Ezra was counting on if he got caught. He felt sick but he had to tell Chris what he had found. He had no choice.

Chris was stunned. His first order of business was to call back the officer and tell him that this was part of a case that team 7 was involved in to give them some temporary cover. The deleted offense was minor enough that the officer was willing to simply let it go at that point. Now he had to talk to Ezra. Maybe Ezra's nervous behavior lately had nothing to do with the case but was his personal life distracting him and interfering with his professionalism.


	11. No Choices

Chris was unsure what to do. He preferred to cover for Ezra rather than confront the higher ups directly with the fact that they could not touch Ezra. He was saving that course of action as a last resort. Unfortunately he could not cover for Ezra without help from Travis but with Ezra being so adamant that he was innocent he did not know what to think. Ezra's shock about being confronted with JD's evidence seemed genuine and Chris knew that Ezra was generally bad at lying to him. However the evidence against him was solid. Even Ezra agreed that it appeared that the tampering had come from his laptop and Chris knew how careful he was with it. Finally Chris decided to present the whole thing to Travis and get his opinion. Travis listened without comment and then decided he needed to speak to Ezra himself, without Chris present. Chris was not sure about that particular part of the request but finally they agreed that Chris would be outside the door since Travis' office was soundproof. Chris determined he would drive Ezra in the next morning and they would go straight to see Travis.

Ezra walked into Travis' office feeling wary. After Chris' questions, indeed almost accusations , yesterday he was suspicious of what might be going on. Travis' voice was calm "Agent Standish, please come in and close the door. Agent Larabee please wait outside" Ezra's discomfort shot up. If Chris was not going to be present then this was not likely to be anything but unpleasant. He sat down facing Travis and there was silence for a while and then Travis sighed and began. "Agent Standish I have had a discussion with Chris about the hacking that took place from your laptop on the Denver Police department database. At this point you have two options. You can confess your actions to me and your team, be allowed to complete your current case and then be suspended on unpaid leave for 3 months. Alternatively you can continue to deny the charges and put the department through the cost and embarrassment of a hearing. If you are then found guilty, and you must admit the evidence against you is substantial, you will be suspended for 6 to 9 months. I will also insist you leave immediately while under investigation. As a consideration for the fine work you have done previously I am not even going to try firing you, though I suppose in reality at this point it is likely I could not without a massive fight and even then I doubt it would stick if you decided to fight me on it. I can't even threaten to turn you in to the police since I am pretty sure nothing would be done given your status." Ezra was stunned "You are stacking the deck such that anyone innocent or not would confess. Furthermore you cannot take me off this case. It's ..." suddenly he realized he could not even explain, What Vin had told him about leaving was in confidence. It was not his place to share that information with Travis, so he continued almost without a pause " .. too important." Travis looked at him sternly "I am not interested in your attempts to cloud the situation. I only want to know what your choice is Agent Standish. Choose now." Ezra bowed his head there was no choice for him, but he couldn't even imagine his team's reaction. "I admit to my actions and I will confess to the team."

When Ezra came out of Travis' office he was pale and did not look at Chris but walked straight to the elevators. Chris followed him feeling uncomfortable. What had Travis said to cause this reaction? Ezra was silent on their way down to the team's offices. When they arrived the team were milling around as usual. To Chris' surprise Ezra asked to use Chris' office and then brought them all in and shut the door. "I have something I need to impart to you gentlemen. Please do me the courtesy of allowing me to finish before you interject. JD has discovered that my laptop was used to hack the Denver PD's database and remove an arrest record for Carlos Mendoza, one of my friends in the racing community. I am sorry that I have brought shame to myself and my team. AD Travis has already determined that I will be placed on leave for this." At that Vin interjected and Chris had never seen him so angry, certainly not with that anger directed at Ezra. "What the hell Ez! What happens to our case then. How could you do this to me?" Ezra held up his hand "Travis has stated that I will be allowed to finish up the case." Vin's voice was still enraged "How could you have done something so dumb?" Ezra sighed "I apologize Vin. The case will proceed as scheduled and if all goes as planned we will be done by this time the day after tomorrow. You must know I would never do anything to jeopardize this case." Vin looked at him with disgust. "Obviously that's not true since you did. You're lucky you were not suspended immediately!" Ezra flinched, then glancing around at the expressions on the face of his team ducked his head down and refused to meet their eyes. "We have a lot of work to do. Let's not test Travis' patience by dragging this out."


	12. The Takedown

Ezra was feeling confident, though he was careful to adopt the same diffident demeanor as before. He had ensured that all the guns had been microprinted inside the barrel so they could prove that they came from this specific dealership. From their research into past reports from the dealer the team was fairly confident that the dealer would not simply report them stolen to muddy the trail. Too many guns had been 'stolen' from this dealership recently for a case to disappear, especially guns of these type, and the dealer had to be aware of it. There was still a certain risk that the dealer would try that, but if he did they were going to do a full shutdown and inventory and were pretty certain to turn up something. The kids in Vin's neighborhood had volunteered to make the illegal purchases but the team were never going to allow that. Instead Ezra had brought "teenager JD" into action again. With some judicious makeup he could pass for 17, young enough to be a possible gang member. Vin had even managed to convince one of the gang leaders to vouch for JD if consulted. The gangs were tired of the violence themselves and this incident was the last straw for a lot of them. It was a little out of character for someone like JD to approach the dealer directly but the dealer's normal contact was under guard in a safe house because they knew he was not trustworthy and likely to tip Mainer off. All Ezra had to do was close this deal and his part was done. He had argued adamantly against sending in JD on the same day as the sale. This was a non standard enough transaction as it was without making it a huge coincidence as well. However he had been overruled with many snide remarks about him having ulterior motives for ensuring the case lasted a few more days. It was maddening to have both his expertise and his concern for JD questioned but he had been unable to get his team to wait the two days he felt was best or indeed even one. 

"Mr Mainer I brought them. I mostly want rid of them but a little money might be nice." Ezra made sure his eagerness to please was visible but not overwhelming. He was not surprised when Mainer's offer was about 30% of what he should have paid. However in this persona he should not know that fact so he made sure to appear appropriately gratified "Oh wow really. Thank you so much. I don't need to fill out any paperwork or anything do I?" With that the guns changed hands and Ezra waved goodbye and then made his way to the surveillance van. His last minute pleas to wait were ignored but he managed to at least get JDs meet pushed back to 2 hours from now, though not without having to completely piss off his teammates by threatening to blow the whole case by walking back in and demanding his guns back. He had the feeling that if his team had thought they could get away with hitting him over the head, tying him up and going ahead with the buy they would have.

JD sauntered into the dealership with the swagger that Ezra and Vin had carefully taught him. The dealer looked unimpressed until he pulled out the crumpled wad of money and said "Need a gun." He was shown into the back office and it was then that things began to go wrong. Ezra had repeatedly counseled that he was not under any circumstances to ask for any particular type of gun. However Josiah and Vin both wanted him to be more specific and Vin wanted him to at least asked for a small gun. As the dealer was reaching behind his desk he asked casually "Got anything in mind?" JD thought it should be safe to give more information but unfortunately instead of just asking for something easy to hide he said "Something I can use for concealed carry." Outside Chris and Buck groaned. That was hardly something a teenage gang member would say. Chris immediately told JD to start getting out of there. JD started to back away as the dealer turned obviously unfriendly eyes on him. However it was too late, the dealer pulled his weapon and pointed it at JD. His voice sounded conversational "I'm sorry about this kid. Don't know what the cops have on you but hey that's not my problem, move. We're going out the back in case you've got your cop friends waiting for you out front." 

Ezra had started to move the second Mainer had asked his question. He knew that question was subconsciously prompted by the fact that Ezra had been in the same day. He also feared that JD was not experienced enough to realize the possible trap especially with Vin and Josiah having disagreed with him. He knew in a place like this the dealer would go out the back and had careful noted where the back exit came out. By the time he heard Chris telling JD to get out he was approaching the back entrance. Normally one of the team members would be covering him but he was not clear on whether they would automatically follow right now or stop to argue and he was sure JD did not have the time. Then he heard the door bang open and he stepped into view pointing his weapon steadily at Mainer's head. At the same time he tried to deflect attention from JD. "Freeze ATF! Really Mr Mainer you should have had the intellect to realize that such a deal was too good to be true. I imagine it was simply asking too much of your mental faculties. Let the kid go now and I will not have to add kidnapping to the charges you are now facing." Mainer's anger was immediate. "I don't believe it, a Fed." His gun swung to cover Ezra and he pushed JD away. "If you're a Fed the rest of your team will be somewhere around. I bet you're a better hostage for their good behavior than some punk kid." He lunged suddenly towards Ezra but Ezra had been expecting it and stepped neatly to the side, kicking the dealer hard as he did so. Mainer fell to the ground and Ezra perched on top of him, immediately bringing out his cuffs. Just then the rest of his team barreled into the alley. Ezra smiled at them brightly "Well as that wraps up the case if you gentlemen will excuse me I have some final paperwork to sign."


	13. Mia

Ezra felt as if everything was spiraling out of control. He knew he should tell Dom he was suspended but he couldn't face his reaction. He honestly wasn't sure if he was more afraid of him forcing the team to take him back or believing along with them that he would do something so stupid. Hanging around the ATF office for the day and then having Dom pick him up felt idiotic, but he just could not think of anything else that didn't involve being unescorted and the repercussions of that when Dom found out that he had been deceived just did not bear thinking about. Getting Dom to drop him off and pick him up every day rather than his usual mix of teammates had required some careful and creative editing of the truth. Sometimes he wished he was willing to lie to Dom it would have certainly made his life easier right now. He was just glad that team 8 was willing to have him hang around and not report it to Travis or Chris. 

Ezra's phone rang and he was surprised to see it was Mia. She would think he was at work and she did not normally disturb him then. This was some kind of emergency, his heart sank, was something wrong with Brian perhaps? He refused to think of anything else. "Mia, what's wrong?" Mia seemed oddly hesitant "Ray I'm sorry I hate doing this but ... I have to, I won't make the same mistake twice. Look Letty just left, she told me, well she told me that you are cheating on Dom. That she saw you kissing Carlos Mendoza yesterday when you were supposedly at work. I had thought you guys were working this stuff out and Letty .. she is family I can't imagine her lying to me but .. I remember when I separated you and Dom and .. you were lost, there's just no way. I don't know what the explanation is but .. She asked me to tell Dom. She says she doesn't have the heart to but .. It has to be wrong or mistaken." Ezra felt as if he had been punched and then, his mind started racing, If Letty was doing this then, well then she was trying to get rid of him, suddenly he thought back to the start of the racing season. When Letty had made him clean up he had left his laptop unattended in Dom's room. It was maybe 20 minutes. He did not think Letty had the skill for what had been done so he would never have even thought of it normally but, it was the only possibility. The only thing was after everything, not least his little deception about going to work, how could he tell Dom and be believed. Even apart from that he knew how much finding this out would hurt Dom and he just was not sure he would be able to do that. He thanked Mia for the heads up and reassured her that he had not cheated on Dom. "I will talk to Dom, to Letty, we will ensure that a satisfactory outcome is reached." As he hung up he wondered just how he was going to pull that off.


	14. Rethinking

Vin came into Chris' office looking troubled. "We need to talk about Ezra." Chris looked wary "Look Vin I know what he did with the police database was unacceptable, but you can't believe he intended to hurt you. He probably had no idea this would threaten our case." Vin smiled "I know that. I was just so angry I could not think but with a little time to consider it nothing makes sense. Then what happened with JD makes me sick." Chris looked troubled "Ezra was not being reckless or careless, he thought with reason we would not listen to him and the horrible thing is I do not know if we would have. JD could have been hurt or killed if he had not acted but the fact that he acted alone, that he felt he had to... We owe him more than that and we've all promised nothing like that that would never happen. For us to disregard his opinion, to behave as though he would ever put closing a case quickly above the team's safety.. We know him better than that. We were just all so angry we were not thinking straight." Vin agreed. "Something is wrong Chris. Ezra is smart. I thought about it and I could think of at least a couple of other ways that Ezra could have helped that kid without doing anything wrong. Hell at this point he could probably just ask the arresting officer to wipe the record as a favor to get it done. There is no way he would not have known all that." Chris nodded "Nothing makes sense." Vin was adamant "At first he just said that he was innocent and then it's like he just admitted it out of the blue. We need to find out what changed. I don't know maybe the fact that we were unsure whether to believe him broke his trust in us and he decided to cut his losses?" Chris paused and squirmed "Travis spoke to him and as soon as he came out of the meeting with him he confessed. I don't know what Travis said, I lost my temper the minute he admitted it and didn't ask him." Vin sighed "The thing is I mentioned the possibility of my leaving to Ezra." Chris looked stunned "When Ezra first contacted the perp, I did not think he was operating at his usual level. So I confronted him." Vin was puzzled "What did he say?" Chris smiled, "To paraphrase that he couldn't tell me what was upsetting him. I assumed then that he was unsure himself but now I'm betting he meant he was unable to. He would never have betrayed a confidential conversation with you so he obfuscated." Chris grew even more serious. "Vin, he blew it, in an open store in broad daylight, so there was not much chance the guy would try anything but that's not the same as no chance. Ezra was far off his game. Which makes me wonder..." Vin interjected "Just what would Ezra be willing to do, to accept, to complete this case." Vin was adamant "We need to know exactly what Travis said, call him."

Orin Travis had never been afraid of Chris Larabee but today, though he would not go that far, he realized for the first time that Larabee was really a dangerous man. Chris' voice was soft but Travis didn't think he'd ever had such venom directed at him. "So you basically blackmailed him into that confession." Travis winced but before he could defend himself Vin chimed in and Travis actually felt a shiver of fear at the naked danger in his tone. "I dunno if blackmail is strong enough cowboy. If you torture someone enough they'll tell you what you want to hear just to get you to stop." Travis objected immediately "I never laid a hand on him." Vin's voice was icy "No you just threatened his family. I told him and Chris both that if we couldn't close this case out that I was gonna quit. He would have done anything to prevent that." Travis was aghast "I had no idea. You have to believe if I had known I never would have used this case to threaten him." Vin looked at him his eyes thawing a little. "Well we better get to the bottom of this. Have Dom bring him in. He won't lie to him."

Chris' conversation with Dom did not go well for a very unexpected reason. When Chris called to ask Dom to bring Ezra in Dom went very quiet and his response stunned Chris. "I dropped Ezra off at work this morning, same as usual. So if he's not with you I'd really like to know where he is." Chris could not believe it "He's on suspension." Dom's voice was calm "Hold on let me call and find out where he is. He damn well better be in the building or he will regret it." Dom put them on hold and after a short pause reconnected "He'll be at his desk shortly. He is to stay there until I arrive." 

When Dom walked in he made a beeline to Ezra's desk where a very subdued Ezra was waiting. Dom motioned for him to come into Chris' office and the rest of the team followed them in. Dom was curt "Chris fill me in." After Chris explained why Ezra had been suspended Dom was silent for a moment and then he turned to Ezra. "Ezra what on earth would cause you to hack a police database." Ezra's eyes would not meet Dom's "Carlos could lose everything if his school pulled the scholarship. He is a fine young man and it would be a tragic occurrence for his whole future to be ruined by a juvenile mistake." Dom stood his countenance transformed by rage but to his surprise Nathan stood and laid a gentle hand on his arm. "Wait Dom, something's off here. I can't put my finger on it but.. Josiah what is it?" Josiah looked thoughtful, then he smiled. "Dom you're asking the wrong question. Ask him if he did it." Dom paused "Didn't I just do that?" Vin suddenly chimed in "You know, you didn't. He generally doesn't play these games of his with you so you wouldn't notice. You asked him essentially if he had done it what would his reasoning have been." Dom did not look amused. 

"Fine I'll restate my question. Ezra did you hack that police database." To his surprise Ezra turned his head away and did not answer. Buck whistled, "Well now that's an answer isn't it." Dom turned to him "How exactly do you figure that?" It was Chris that answered "He can't lie to you Dom, not since the moment you met. If he won't answer it means he didn't do it." Ezra responded to that "Hardly Mr Larabee. After all perhaps I am simply too ashamed to admit my wrongdoing. Or attempting to avoid a more severe punishment by leaving the issue in doubt." JD laughed at that "Even I know that refusing to answer Dom is not the right tactic for that. Why Ezra?" Chris broke in then. "That one Vin and I can answer. Travis told him if he confessed then he could finish out Vin's case before being forced to a three month leave. If he did not then he would be forced out immediately and that would have destroyed Vin's case because the dealer would not trust him after such a long gap and he's the first person to ever get this close to him." JD looked puzzled "So we're still with left the mystery. If Ezra didn't do it then how was it done. I'm 99% sure that it was done from his laptop and Ezra's more careful than the rest of you, he has to be. No one but him has access to it." Dom looked at them. "That's not completely true I have access to it as well." JD smiled "No offense Dom but what was done, I could do it or Ezra, I don't think anyone else on the team would even have been capable and I don't believe you could either." Ezra looked up at that "You cannot possibly believe that Dominic would do such a thing. Carlos is my compatriot more than Dominic's. He would hardly engage in illegal activity on his behalf." JD looked exasperated. "Of course we don't suspect Dom but I've seen you Ezra. You never allow the laptop out of your sight." 

To Dom's surprise Ezra seemed about to say something and then subsided. Dom's eyes narrowed "What is it Sunny?" at that Ezra relaxed and then suddenly looked unhappy. "Please Dom, just don't ask." Dom's voice was stern "Tell me." Ezra's lips closed firmly and he said nothing. Nathan interjected "Wait. Dom is there any way anyone else could have accessed his machine? Did he leave it with you at any point in the last week? Has your routine changed for any reason?" Dom shook his head "Nothing at all has changed recently." Then he paused "Except .." suddenly he found himself embarrassed. He knew none of these men would appreciate what he was about to admit "Only thing is .. I .. well I gave Letty command authority over Sunny." 

Buck stepped forward at that, "You did what!" Dom glared. "We've been trying to work it out between the three of us. She's going to end up having responsibility for him if we make this a permanent arrangement. What was I supposed to tell her that I don't trust her? I do." Then he looked at Ezra standing quietly head bowed. "Well maybe I did." Dom's voice hardened "Tell me was Letty ever alone with your computer." Ezra's eyes turned up to his "A few days ago. Your Ms. Ortiz required me to leave the room, leaving her alone with the computer for a few minutes. I did not think much about it even after JD found the issue. I initially was under the impression that he must simply be mistaken. However it was recently brought to my attention that Letty might be a possibility." Dom looked at Chris "Could we have some time alone?"


	15. Revelations

"Why didn't you tell me about what you thought Letty might have done?" Ezra sighed. "A multitude of reasons. I only just figured it out myself and I was unwilling to be the bearer of bad news. I hoped I could handle it on my own. Not to mention I was unsure of your belief in my veracity if she should deny it." Dom's eyes flashed "I have never given you any indication I would not believe you." Ezra was calm "You know I have never lied to you Dominic. Indeed I do not think a straight out lie is possible but I have contemplated omitting the truth on occasions and you know I tried to get Chris to lie to you." Dom laughed at that "Would you ever consider such a thing again?" Ezra shuddered, his "Never!" was completely sincere. Dom's tone was calmer now. "So why? Were you under the impression that I would not take a threat to your wellbeing seriously?" Ezra froze "I know how you feel about her Dom, even though like many of your friends, I do not think she deserves it." At Dom's immediate protest he held up his hand "I have been forced to rethink my feelings about her recently. I realized that from that first time when Brian let you go she could have come with you, but she did not. Hardly an act of loyalty. You had just started to move on and then you found you she was supposed to be dead and it froze your feelings because you had never been able to get closure and now you never would. Then you finally got her back and she tried for a while but she was right, you were in love with someone who no longer existed so she left you again. You responded to that by leaving your home behind. You moved away from LA to avoid dealing with that." Dom felt as though Ezra had struck him. "Are you saying I was being cowardly?" Ezra looked disturbed "I would never accuse you of such a thing but, she hurt you profoundly." Dom glared at Ezra "So were you just pretending to share me with Letty and work this out, tricking me but never intending to try" Ezra looked at him obviously livid. Suddenly Ezra dropped to his knees, head down perfect submissive posture even down to his hands being clasped behind his back. It infuriated Dom, "Don't you dare! I will accept the reminder of your status when you're trying to calm me down but don't you dare try to use it just to avoid an argument." Ezra looked up at him and his eyes were furious. "Would you prefer I take a swing at you Dom. I doubt our relationship could handle such stress. Maybe you want my surrender because you know you could never dominate me any other way." Dom grabbed Ezra's shoulders and pulled him to his feet. "Go ahead take a shot at me. I'll have you helpless in under 10 minutes." Ezra glared and then suddenly swung. 

Dom let him connect with a couple good punches and then threw himself forward, using his size and prodigious strength to muscle Ezra to the ground. Ezra squirmed and kicked but Dom's weight was too much for him. In minutes he was on his stomach Dom perched on his legs to weight them down and both hands gathered together in one of Dom's. Ezra bucked against Dom's weight a couple times and then sighed and let his body relax. Dom let him up enough to flip him over. Ezra met his eyes looking of all things amused. "Ok so you can in fact overpower me in less than 5 minutes." He looked pensive "I would have hoped to hold out for 10. Guess I need more practice." Dom was shocked "You're not afraid or furious?" Ezra looked puzzled "What on earth would frighten me?" "I could do anything to you and you could not stop me." Ezra's response was enlightening "Dominic that was always true. This is hardly a revelation. Besides which you would not be able to do anything to hurt me even with all status arguments aside. It would be as impossible for you as flying. You're not capable of hurting those you care for Dominic, not as a deliberate action." Dom felt unsteady "Letty she always was angry with me if I ever made her feel physically weaker it drove her nuts." Ezra smiled "I have a feeling you enjoyed overpowering me, proving that you could. I do not object to that Dominic. It is in fact something of a turn on." Dom pushed off him too much was happening too fast. "Sunny I can't ... You've said so many things and now this I .. Can I get some time to process?" Ezra looked serious "Take what time you need."

As Dom was leaving he turned back towards Ezra "Wait you never said what made you realize Letty was trying to get rid of you?" Ezra turned away again "She recently she said something to Mia that made me realize she was negatively disposed towards me." Dom had to ask "What did she say?" Ezra looked somber "She told Mia that I was cheating on you." 


	16. Confrontations

Letty was sitting in the living room when Dom stalked in. As soon as she saw his face she knew he had found out what she had done. Now she had to decide whether to try and pretend that she was not responsible or admit the truth. Letty was no coward but she knew how protective Dom was of Ezra. Dom just looked at her, if he had been angry she might have brazened it out but he just looked sad and a little broken. "Why Letty? I thought we were going to try and work it out. Why would you try and hurt him, and do it like that, damage his relationship with his team. It would have been kinder to shoot him like you did me." Letty sighed. "Obviously I could do nothing to him physically and you wanted what he gives you. Hell Dom if he was a girl you would have married him already. You want toughness in a partner but you also want to be allowed to take control. Before you thought you couldn't have it because most of us tough girls, we've fought too hard to prove ourselves to give up control to anyone. I had to make him walk away, but he would never do it unless I destroyed his support system first. They would tell him to fight for you. Reassure him that he is good enough for you" Dom growled "He is, more than good enough. I've hurt him more than once. He's never been anything but a positive force in my life" Letty smiled sadly "I'm not an idiot or blind. I can see what he is. He's helped heal you. On the other hand I've hurt you. I needed you to think he had found someone else." Dom looked at her pityingly "I would never believe Sunny would cheat on me. Not after I saw how broken he was when I left." Letty laughed. "Yeah Mia said something to that effect. I've gotten hard Dom. All that time with Shaw it hardened me. I find it almost impossible to trust and I certainly can't share." Dom looked at her "So where does that leave us?" Letty looked at him "Will you walk away from him for me?" Dom's answer was curt "No!" Letty shook her head. "Then I'll do you one last favor Dom. Marry the man. What do you care what some street racers think? Your friends, they will stand by you, your family, they love him already. You're in love with him, do something about it before you break his heart. He'll take whatever you give him because he doesn't think he's worthy of the whole prize. I wanted him gone but even I can tell you he's worthy of being more than just a possession."

Dom flinched with shock "Sunny's not just something I own. I care about him." Letty sighed "Don't you get it you can have both, the lover and someone who will belong to you unquestioningly. Someone who will let you take control. He'll always be a toy, that's not reversible." Dom shook his head in rejection "He's a man! I'm not gay." Letty laughed "So you're bi, so what? It doesn't make you less of a man Dom. If you don't admit it then someday, and pretty soon from what I've seen. He's just going to decide the reason you won't say you love him is because of a fault in him and he'll settle for what you are giving him. He deserves more than that. He deserves everything from you." She walked for the bedroom. "I'm going to get my stuff. You think about what I said."

Ezra was somewhat nervous when he came home. He had given Dom a lot to think about and that was ignoring the whole issue of his deception. He was sure that he would have to pay dearly for that one. When he walked in Dom was on the couch looking pensive. Letty was not around but Ezra was not sure what that meant. He wanted comfort though and that was something just being near Dom always provided so he slid in next to him. Dom said nothing but he wrapped an arm around Ezra as he curled in next to him. The next thing Ezra knew Dom was shaking him gently. He blinked he could not believe he had fallen asleep but then he always felt completely safe around Dom. Dom was looking amused and Ezra was still half asleep since he always slept more deeply in Dom's arms. "I was expecting to be in pain, not this." Dom jerked away and Ezra grabbed him, "No, forgive me Dominic I expressed myself badly. Your presence is soporific for me since I feel too safe to remain on my usual alert. It is simply that I expected to be punished for being disingenuous. I admittedly have deceived you for the past couple days and then I made an attempt to deflect your inquiries. I could hardly expect anything else for my behavior and justifiably so." Dom looked mollified and then gazed at him curiously. "Why do you think I punish you Ezra?" Ezra sighed "For the most part whenever I exhibit reckless disregard for my own safety. Otherwise..." he paused then continued more slowly "In theory disrespectful behavior, disobedience, deception but in practice ... you have threatened but the times you have in fact punished me for these have been difficult to disentangle from safety issues, or interestingly enough case related. Though to be accurate I have been generally careful not to cross those lines as readily as I generally do with others and your definitions of disrespect have been more flexible than is standard protocol with toys. I suppose the only exception was early on when I disobeyed you regarding arguing with Mia but that has not really been repeated. I would imagine it is possible to push you too far if I was blatant enough though it has never been something I was eager to test."

Dom was clearly irritated by Ezra's answer "That is an answer to what behavior I punish you for and not why I do it. You have not played games with me before. Don't get in the habit of doing that, and don't duck my question again or the thin ice you are on will break." Ezra squirmed "I believe the intent is to correct my behavior to ensure it does not reoccur." Dom nodded "The situation you were in is hardly likely to come up again. I am not thrilled that you deceived me but I know how devastated you would have been, how much even articulating that your team had in some sense rejected you would have hurt." He smiled suddenly "In any case I don't have any other girlfriends who would attempt to damage your relationship with your team and your team will back you the next time in any case." Ezra interrupted fiercely "It is not in any way your fault Dominic." Dominic looked serious "Perhaps, but I have not been fair to you Ezra." At Ezra's attempt to contradict he held up a hand to stop him. "No. Before she left even Letty said it. You are not just a toy to me Sunny, nor should you be." Ezra refused to be silenced at that "You give me an incredible amount of leeway Dominic given our circumstances and I am content. I don't know what she said but ..." Dom cut him off "No! Ezra from me you get protection, affection, but you deserve more than that, especially given that you don't need protection anyway. You deserve love, fidelity. You have no promises for any of those things. Letty said, and I think she's right, there is no reason for me to deny those to you. I do care about you." Ezra's voice was raw "I know you have some measure of affection for me. It is not ..." Ezra was uncharacteristically at a loss for words "What you can offer is constrained by your lifestyle. I do understand and in any case I know how much racing means to you I'm not ... I know I can't expect." Dom's voice was sad "You should expect everything. What others think about us, why should we care? Letty was right you're starting to feel as though you don't deserve more from me." Ezra looked away, his voice was quiet "I'm not ... I am aware that my social interactions are not what could reasonably be expected for someone like you." Dom swore "Jesus Sunny. How can you think you're not good enough for me in any way. You're bright, you're honorable, you're a good person. For pity's sake you're a federal agent because you want to help people. Do you forget I'm an ex-con. Even all that aside you're one of the most desirable guys I've ever met." Ezra looked straight at him suddenly "Exactly I'm a man. Racing is your life and the racers are surprisingly enough not a liberal crowd. They would never accept me as an equal partner to you." Dom sighed and he let the matter drop apparently Letty was right. Ezra was starting to feel insufficient.


	17. Fallout

Roman looked astonished "Seriously? You want to marry the guy? I can see you taking him as a toy but this, now this is a surprise." Dom scowled "I thought you at least would understand, you like Sunny or at least I thought you did." To his surprise Roman started laughing "No you misunderstand. I didn't think you'd ever be sensible enough to actually see the treasure you had right in front of you. I thought you'd always be seeking after what you lost. I never thought you'd be able to let go of the idea that loving him would somehow make you less." Dom stared and then laughed himself. Roman smiled "Dom your family does not care who you love as long as you're happy, your friends well they got used to the idea of you wanting him, they can get used to the idea of you loving him. Anyone else, why do you care?" He looked at Dom his face serious "Dom if you demanded it he would be truly a toy for you but you know he deserves more than that. Compared to making him happy what do you care if someone calls you names, or refuses to race with you." Dom grinned at that "Right now because I have a toy I can hold my own races and people would flock to them. I'm in the unique situation of being able to call the cops to notify them when and where a race is precisely to make sure they don't try and break it up." Roman looked at him "Before you say anything about any of this to Ezra. Have you talked to the council? They get final say and I don't think anyone has actually tried to marry their toy before. It was not something that used to be possible." Dom stopped "I didn't even think of it but you're right I would need their permission. Kind of like a meeting with the parents." Roman's response was right on point "Yeah if you were meeting overprotective, homicidal parents."

Dom could not tell if the meeting running long was a good or a bad sign. He had been allowed to make his petition and then had been ushered out of the room and told in no uncertain terms to wait. Finally he was called in to hear the response. When he walked into the conference room there was silence and then the Chairman addressed him "Mr Toretto you have certainly caused a lot of discussion among my colleagues. There is a determined contingent who feels that you will taint the entire institution as gay if we allow this. However most of our members who are actual owners insist that the ownership of a toy is absolute barring harm, and thus if an owner wants social trappings for whatever reason it is their privilege to insist. However .." abruptly his voice grew dangerous "we do wish it made clear that regardless of laws your obligations towards your toy's health and well-being physical and emotional remain the same and are not discharged by such a relationship change. It is likely that regardless of the law divorce will not be possible for you since such actions are likely to have a strong negative emotional impact so think carefully." Dom nodded he had expected as much. The Chairman's voice grew formal "It is the decision of this council that an owner may marry their toy if they so desire, this does not in any way change the toy's status or the owner's obligations."

Despite the discussion with Roman and the formal permission Dom still had not decided whether he was going to follow through on Letty's advice and make Ezra his spouse as well as his toy. He had first sworn Mia and Brian to secrecy and had then discussed it with them to make sure they had no problems with it. Mia's response had been gratifying if a bit extreme. She had been so incensed that he would think that after all that had happened she would have any objections to Ezra she had refused to speak to him for a week. In fact Dom was pretty sure the only reason she was speaking to him at all was because Ezra had started to become both suspicious and unhappy. Brian like most of his other friends simply laughed at him and let him know that anything that made him happy was fine with them. There were a few exceptions however and they were extremely vocal about it. In fact Tego was furious with the idea and called it offensive and ungodly. His discussion with Roman came in handy when talking with the organizer of the local races James Brody. Once he pointed out that without him they were back to their races being broken up by the police James decided that he had better things to worry about.

He must have looked pensive when Ezra came home because to Dom's surprise Ezra seemed wary. After an uneasy dinner Dom pulled him down beside him and tried to find what was wrong. Finally after several adroit deflections he gave up and simply demanded Ezra tell him what was wrong. Ezra's pause was long and finally he pulled away "You have been thinking about something for a while, since Letty left. I know you say you're happy with me but you don't have a choice do you. If you want I will terminate the relationship. Maybe now that you've resolved your issues with Letty you're ready to have a real relationship again. I'll just be an impediment to that." Suddenly Dom did not care what anyone thought, Ezra was too important to keep hurting him. "Look Sunny the thing is .. you deserve it all, the whole love, honor, forsaking all others bit. Ezra P. Standish will you marry me." Ezra looked at him and his heart was shining from his eyes "Yes Dominic Toretto, I will."


	18. Epilogue: A Wedding

To Dom's surprise Ezra wanted a Unitarian church ceremony. He felt that Dom would be more comfortable that way and also that it couldn't hurt to "gain what extra blessings might be possible" as Josiah had put it. There was a lot of anticipation and even bets among the team as to who would be his best man. To the surprise of most of the team Ezra picked Nathan. He had talked to Buck first to apologize but Buck had initially laughed at him and then when he realized Ezra was really sincere had told him he understood. "Nathan was the one who stood up for you and Dom first and he was the one who helped to fix it when I was a complete idiot. He's an excellent choice Ez." Nathan was sincerely flattered and then in a somewhat unique interpretation of his best man duties took Dom aside and explained to him exactly what a medically trained professional could do to cause someone pain. Dom felt queasy after that little talk but if had not already been determined never to deliberately or carelessly hurt Ezra again that certainly would have convinced him. 

Obviously the whole team would be part of the wedding party along with Brian and Mia. However Ezra did not want the numbers to be unbalanced and six on his side and two on Dom's did not work. Dom happily added in Tej and Roman but there was no one else he really wanted standing up with him. When they discussed it with Brian and the team surprisingly JD said "Easy I'll stand up with Dom." The team was surprised but JD put it succinctly "Well Dom's family now too, just like Ezra."

Mia was ecstatic. She and Ezra had come a long way and had already planned one wedding together after all so she jumped into helping Ezra with the planning with enthusiasm. Dom only had one request out of all of it which he put to Ezra rather sheepishly. He wanted Ezra to wear a white tuxedo. After Ezra stopped laughing at him he agreed with an enthusiasm which surprised Dom. When he asked Ezra why he just laughed and told him "You will find out at the church. After all if you want me to play the bride you can hardly expect to see me dressed before the wedding." Mia found able helpers in Cassie and Nettie and the flowers, cake and photographer were taken care of in short order. There was more of an issue when it came to the food. Ezra was dithering between 'haute cuisine' from France and traditional southern, Vin and Buck wanted TexMex, Mia, Dom and Brian were holding out for a California, South American fusion. Finally Dom threw up his hands and said "Fine, we'll have a buffet with all of the above." After that whenever there was a dispute about the planning Dom was appointed referee. Fortunately for him there were not a large number of issues.

The bachelor parties were quite different, though both went off to the satisfaction of all involved. Ezra's bachelor party had been a very nice dinner at one of the best restaurants in town. In the spirit of the evening however he had worn one of his slutiest toy outfits. However after the restaurants discreet inquiries had elicited the fact that this was a bachelor party they had simply smiled and presented him with a delicious free dessert. Ezra had promised to patronize them more in the future and sincerely meant it. Dom's bachelor party had been a little more wild, taking place at a strip club, to his horror a male strip club. Dom had discovered that while he certainly was bi he wanted Ezra more than he wanted to play the field, almost a first for him.

After his bachelor party though Ezra showed up at Dom's door looking distressed to Dom's now experienced eye. After he had danced around what was wrong for a few minutes Dom cut him short with an abrupt "Tell me!" Ezra sighed and then it all came tumbling out. He wasn't sure they really should go through with this and thought they should cancel the whole ceremony thing and just have a party. 

Dom was taken aback. He had been feeling some trepidation about taking such a final step, especially since there were bound to be some repercussions. He had thought this would feel like a get out of jail free card instead he felt rejected, hurt. It must have been apparent in his voice because Ezra hastened to add that he had no intention of negating the contract. In fact he had intended to tell Dom, he was going to put in a new clause negating his ability to terminate unilaterally and turning it into a more standard contract requiring mutual agreement or council intervention. Before the whole experience with Letty Dom would have jumped at this chance now, he could not help hearing her voice ring in his head "He's just going to decide he's not lovable and he'll settle for what you are giving him. He deserves everything." Somehow he could not help feeling that Ezra was trying to give him an out. Before he had wanted this marriage for Ezra but now he wanted it for himself. He wanted to belong to Ezra. He laughed "You know what Ezra, thanks but no thanks, tomorrow I'm going to marry the man I love and I'm perfectly happy with that." Ezra lit up at his words and Dom knew that come what may this was right for them.

Dominic's jaw dropped. Ezra in white with a vest the exact shade of his eyes was beyond stunning. As he processed down the aisle Dom could not take his eyes off him. The rest of the ceremony proceeded in a blur until finally the minister's words rang through the church "You may kiss the bride...groom" Ezra's lips quirked in amusement and Dom exploded into laughter before pulling Ezra into a passionate kiss. For him, right here, right now everything was just perfect.


End file.
